Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash Review

Saying that there are a LOT of products out there for babies is like saying water is wet. It can be mind boggling for new parents. Eight months ago, I was pretty much clueless about most of the vast number of baby products on the market. Now, while certainly not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I have learned a lot and continue to be on the lookout for healthier, safer, all around better products. This time, the hunt was on for new shampoo/body wash for Shay Bug.

After much researching, I decided to go ahead and order Earth Mama Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash.  Ever since having her, I've gotten on a more natural kick and am slowly adding to our expanding list of natural products. We still have a mix of traditional consumer products but I just don't want to put unnecessary parabens, sulfates, and a laundry list of other ingredients that I don't recognize, can't pronounce and that can be potentially harmful to any degree. Especially now that Shay is starting to get into things and crawl everywhere, I don't want to use harsh chemicals that can get onto her hands and therefore, into her mouth.

This product comes in a special dispenser that foams the soap. Why would this be necessary? It helps keep the soap from getting into baby's eyes. I opted for this even though it specifically says it's not formulated as a tear-free wash. This is due to the fact that it uses all natural ingredients (listed below) and is free of anesthetizers typically put into tear-free products.

Organic coconut oil, Organic olive oil, Organic aloe leaf juice, Organic vanilla bean extract, Organic orange oil, Kosher vegetable glycerin, Potassium citrate, Organic shea butter, Organic calendula extract

Angel Baby® Shampoo & Body Wash contains no petrochemical, synthetic surfactants, foaming agents or toxins of any kind. That means no sodium laureth sulfate, cocoamidylpropyl betaine, Quaternium-15, 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde or phthalates.

• USDA Certified Made With Organic Ingredients
• No 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, or phthalates
• No sodium lauryl sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine or other synthetic surfactants
• No artificial preservatives (parabens, phenoxyethanol, etc)

Also, we use cloth wipes paired with Thirsties Booty Luster but I thought this video on how to make homemade baby wipes was interesting.

The verdict? I deferred to my husband on this since he's the one who bathes our Shay Bug the most. So far, so good. The foaming dispenser is nice because it is easy to put on your hand and then apply to baby without it running everywhere. It smells good and seems to work well with no adverse skin reactions. The only small complaint was that the foam disappears quickly when applied with a washcloth so it's not as easy to see the soap application...a small price to pay for the benefits of the ingredients. Overall, a good product!

Next on the Mommy agenda is to try out some of the organic baby products from babybaby.

(Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us in the hopes that it helps anyone thinking about purchasing these products.)

Staircase Mountain

Where in the world did October go?! Been so busy living out life that I haven't been updating this blog. Shay changes so much in the span of a week, it's hard to keep up with all of the advances in Baby Land but I'll give some highlights:

* Sometime in the last couple of weeks, Shay reached the summit of Staircase Mountain (aka: figured out how to climb up the stairs). She'd been trying for awhile but just didn't have the "oomph" to get her leg up and pull herself up to the next step. Not a problem now! We've had to move Aslan's (our dog's) water and food dishes from the kitchen to the stair landing to our bathroom so Shay doesn't get into them. She doesn't try to eat the dog kibble, but plays with it and splashes around in the water.

Little stair climber

* We've expanded her culinary horizons and, in addition to oatmeal, sweet potatoes & butternut squash, Shay also likes apples, carrots, pears & cantaloupe. She's decided that rice cereal, bananas, sweet peas & avocados are her nemesis. I tried mashing a little bit of banana in with her oatmeal thinking I'd outsmart her. She took one bite and looked at my like I was crazy. Next big step will be getting her to use a sippy cup and self feed. She has her pincer grasp but hasn't figured out how to move food from her fingers to her mouth. Instead she sits and holds it in one clenched fist while opening her mouth really wide and giving us the, "Why aren't you putting food in my mouth?" look.

* Pulling up to standing has become the activity of choice these days. She pulls up on just about anything she can get her hands on which means more baby proofing for Mommy & Daddy. She also likes to "cruise" around our couch and the inside of her crib. A lot of times in the morning I wake up to see her in the video monitor standing up and letting the world know she's awake.

 Cruising around the couch

* Just in the past couple of days, she's said the word "Mama" several times. It's definitely more baby babble and not intentionally directed at me, but, as her mommy, it's still exciting!

Two of my friends from college, Sarah and Shay, are pregnant and expecting their first babies just days apart from each other. Sarah was my roommate freshman year at Belmont Univ. and was also a bridesmaid in Jeff's and my wedding. Shay (aka "Big Shay") was in the dorm room next door to us and is who we named our baby girl after. Sarah, Kristin (another Hail Hall dormmate), Shaybug and I all went to Big Shay's shower which was in town. A couple of weeks later, Big Shay, Kristin & I all piled in my car and drove up to Indianapolis for Sarah's shower. Good times! 

Shay & Sarah - both beautiful & 30 weeks pregnant with new friends for Bug

Buggy & me at Big Shay's baby shower

I'll leave you with a picture I took the other day when Jeff brought Shay to visit me at work for lunch. 

Econobum Diaper Cover | Prefold & Happy Heinys Pocket Diaper Review

I just love the funny names for cloth diapers, Econobum and Happy Heinys being the latest I've tried out after scoring major clearance deals. While my Thirsties are working just fine (especially the Duo Diapers), I figured I'd like to try out some other options since I'll need to get some bigger sizes in the not-too-distant future.

Econobum

Reasons for Purchasing: This is a one-size waterproof cover with all sorts of adjustable snaps so it can be adjusted to fit as your baby grows. It also came with a one-size cotton prefold (something else I wanted to try out). The prefold is rectangular and can be tri-folded the long way or the short way depending on how big your baby is. Plus, I loved the price...I got this on clearance brand new for $5.95 (that's the cover AND the flat) plus free shipping from Cotton Babies!

The Verdict: The cover works great paired with our birdseye weave cotton flats, much like our Thirsties wraps. I like that you can adjust the size to fit. However, I am definitely a velcro girl. When trying to get a flat and cover on a very mobile, very wiggly baby, velcro is my friend. I've heard people who prefer snaps say that they like them because babies can't get them off as easily and they don't stick to anything in the wash. We don't have a problem with Shay taking her diaper off once we put her clothes over them and most cloth diapers with velcro these days come with laundry tabs that you stick the velcro to so they don't stick to anything in the wash. They've worked great for us! I haven't actually tried the prefold paired with the cover. Instead I used it to stuff the Happy Heinys pocket diapers in addition to the insert we got with each diaper since they didn't seem thick enough to hold up overnight...worked great! While I like the convenience of the prefold, I think it was too wide or too long depending on which way you folded it. I much prefer using our flats because I can fold them to custom fit Shay's cute little baby bottom and they're not as bulky. Plus it just seems to me that prefolds are more of a pain to launder since they require a longer dry cycle.

Happy Heinys

Reasons for Purchasing: The one complaint I have about the Thirsties wraps I have is that they leave red marks around Shay's legs. They don't seem to bother her and disappear fairly quickly after they're off but I wanted to see if there was something else out there that wouldn't leave those marks. These Happy Heinys have custom milled fleece around the legs instead of gussets with elastic bands directly touching baby's legs and claim to not leave red marks. Like our Thirsties Duo Diapers, they also have a very soft fleece lining in the inside of the pocket. Also, can't beat the price on these either...$8.96 each (that's the pocket diaper AND an insert) PLUS 5% off with a coupon code PLUS free shipping from Abby's Lane!

The Verdict: Well, jury's still kind of out on this. I love the colors I got (hot pink & lavendar). The velcro seems good and they're pretty simple to stuff and get on baby. The problem is that I ordered them in size medium which are too big for Shay at the moment. I did put her in one overnight as an experiment and prepared for a wet mess in the morning. However, I was pleasantly surprised that, while too big, it did not leak. And she didn't have any red marks. The thing I wasn't so crazy about is that the diaper is so wide. She was practically doing a straddle after I got her in the diaper. Luckily she didn't seem to mind and slept, well, like a baby all night. For now, they're great back ups for overnight diapers in case we get behind in laundry (we have 4 Duo Diapers for overnight at the moment). It'll be interesting to try them out when Shaybug gets a little bigger.

Disclaimer: I am not paid to review any products on this blog. I just figured I'd share what works (and what doesn't) for us.

Good Eats

Okay so I stole the title from Food Network's Alton Brown. Appropriate I would say because the show is all about teaching about every kind of food possible. I'd definitely say we're on quite the learning curve being first-time parents of a baby who is starting down the road to eating solids.

We're slowly expanding Shay's culinary palette. So far, her faves include pureed sweet potatoes and butternut squash. While I make her fresh, homemade baby food, I wanted to test out some jarred baby food just to see if she'd go for the flavor of different veggies & fruits. She did try 2 small jars of organic baby food I purchased at Whole Foods, one sweet peas and the other pears. The verdict? Loved the pears and tolerated the peas. So I figured I'd try to steam up some sweet peas and puree them. I think this picture sums up how the homemade peas went over:

Peas = Fail!

As with all things baby, I've had to really research the world of introducing solids, what kinds of foods to give at what age, how to prepare & store it, etc. I found a great website, Wholesome Baby Food that has a wealth of information and has some great recipes and answers to FAQ's. Love it! I'll definitely be referring to this site often. I've found that I steaming is my favorite way of preparing her food. It retains a lot of nutrients and I use a little of the water I used to steam the veggies to thin out the puree a little bit. I tried baking but I don't like how it tends to dry out the produce.

It is amazing how individual humans are even from a young age. We were sure that Shay would love banana since it's sweet and she absolutely refuses it! Then Jeff thought she'd hate sweet potatoes (because he does) but she adores them and gobbles them all up. It'll be interesting to see how her tastes change as she gets older.

Shay's pediatrician said that she can start with proteins now. I'll have to research that some more. Typically, a lot of the books and websites say to introduce protein between 7-8 months which Shay will be in a few weeks. I think we'll go with chicken slow cooked in our crock pot to make sure it's well cooked and very tender so we can mash it up for her...this should be an adventure! Wish us luck!

Fun with Aslan

Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails. What puts man in a higher state of evolution is that he has got his laugh on the right end. ~Max Eastman

Birthdays, Burton's and Buggy

Happy 6 month birthday Shay Bug!

And, speaking of birthdays, Shay's daddy just turned the big 4-0 on Sept. 10th! In addition to a night out at the Melting Pot (photos in previous post), Jeff's grandmother Louise, affectionately known by everyone as "Nana," flew to Nashville along with her 2nd cousin Barbara to surprise him for his 40th! His sister Julie & her husband Bob showed up at our house along with Nana & Barbara on Sept. 9th. When the doorbell rang, Jeff went to the door expecting to see our neighbor or a salesperson and it took several moments to process what he was actually seeing. I wish I could've seen his face (I was standing behind him with Shay)...everyone said it was complete confusion, then shock, then joy. Mission "Birthday Surprise" accomplished!

We all had a fun-filled few days while they were in town and built some sweet memories. We are so glad that Nana got to meet Shay in person. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then I really don't have to type any more...I'll leave you with some photos of the weekend:

Jeff's ice cream cake.  We thought the image of Father Time holding a baby was appropriete this year!

Bob, Julie, Nana, Jeff & me

Nana, Jeff & Shay Bug

Jeff, Shay & Barbara

Love the expressions!

Milestones

It is amazing how much a baby can learn and change in a very short amount of time. In just the past two weeks alone, Shay learned how to sit up, crawl and cut two teeth! She's been trying to crawl for over a month now, falling forward, not moving her hands or trying to get her feet under her. All of a sudden it was like a light bulb went off one day and she just GOT it. Now she speeds around like the Usain Bolt of crawling!

Other accomplishments in Baby Land include eating solids (oatmeal cereal and sweet potatoes being her favorite), pulling up to an almost standing position, laughing/squealing and sharpening her ever-expanding fine motor skills (i.e. grabbing Mommy's earrings, picking up small objects, pulling Aslan's tail, etc.).

My mom & her boyfriend Ron came to visit over Labor Day weekend and we all had a great time. Well, all of us except for Shay who fussed most of their visit. I attribute this to two factors; the first being that Shay is teething and sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning, her second bottom tooth decided to rear its pearly white head and the second factor being that we think Shay is a shy baby. Both Jeff & I were very shy as kids so we'd be surprised if she isn't. She isn't in daycare and she doesn't have any siblings so we will really have to work on socializing her. I felt bad for my mom who was sooooooo excited to see her only grandhchild. She was a good sport about it though and plans to give Shay a hard time about the picture below when she's a teenager:

Jeff's turning the big 4-0 on September 10th, so I took him to one of his favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot, for an early birthday dinner while Mom & Ron babysat Shay Bug. It was the second time we've gone on a date with just the two of us since Shay was born. We had a great time together and it was a wonderful way to kick off Jeff's birthday week.

Jeff & me ready for a night out

My handsome husband!

Chocolate fondue = happy Jeff

We also decided to paint Shay's room over the weekend.  It used to be the same green color as our bedroom, but we opted for a lavendar with pink undertones to better match her decor and ended up really liking the results.  Here's Buggy hanging in her newly painted digs:

I'll leave you with a video of Shay chasing our cat Stu.  Please ignore the bad video quality as this was shot on Jeff's cell phone.  Shay's having fun...Stu not so much, hehe!